Introduction to applied quantum chemistry (McGlynn, SP

Introduction to applied quantum chemistry (McGlynn, S. P.; Vanquickenborne, L. G.; Kinoshita, M.; Carroll, D. G.). Yuh Kang Pan. J. Chem. Educ. , 1973...
16 downloads 0 Views 872KB Size
Edward Kendall's employment record (4 months at Parke Davis, 3 years a t St. Luke's Hospital in New York, and 31 yeam at the Mayo Clinic) is shown to be the result of his strong desire to do his own basic research rather than to simply he an assistant to someone else. The hulk of the hook is devoted to the account of the eventual isolation and clinical studies on the hormones of the adrenal cortex, m a t notably cortisone. Naturally this account is highly personal and very brief but the vital parts are present: an inside look at the Mayo Clinic and its growth as one of this country's major medical research centers; the private and professional contacts with some of the scientific personages of the early twentieth century; the important interrelationships between research and application, in this case, not only the painstakingly slow progress towards purification and isolation of the half-dozen adrenal hormones (with emphasis on cortisone) hut also the ecstasy on learning in September 1948 (after 18 years work) of the clinically observable moderating effects of cortisone on rheumatoid arthritis. This hook closes with a chapter descrihing the Nobel ceremonies in Stockholm and some personal glimpses of the people involved. Twenty-three photographs are included along with a listing of Dr. Kendall's honors and awards and a very eomprehensive index. Although not written as engagingly as Watson's "The Double Helix" it is in the same genre and can be used in a course for non-majors to illustrate that chemical research is indeed a human endeavor dependent on many factors: education, working environment, talent, perseverance, luck, competent associates, and a Mother Nature willing to divulge her secrets to those who ask the right questions. Alan C. Wright Eastern Connecticut State College Willimantic. Conn. 06226

teach quantum mechanics. It merely tries to illustrate the manner in which quantum mechanics is used in calculating molecular properties which can be compared with experiment." The authors begin their presentation with a quite extensive discussion on the concept of atomic orbitals; then follows a description of the evaluation of the overlap integrals between two atomic orbitals. The most widely used of all quantum-chemical computational schemes, the Hdekel MO method, is discussed in Chapter 3. The Mulliken-Wolfsherg-HelmholzMO method is discussed in Chapter 4 and the freeelectron MO theory which provides a very efficient description of the r electron in aromatics and in conjugated bond systems is introduced in Chapter 5. In Chapter 6, composite-molecule methods are treated. The construction of symmetry- and spinadapted antisymmetrized wave functions is described in Chapter 7. Energy of many-electron systems, electric-dipole transition probabilities, and static electric-dipole moments are discussed in Chapters 8, 9 and 10. In the last two chapters of the book, the fundamentals of spinorbit coupling theory and spin-spin coupling theory are introduced. In this reviewer's opinion, the authors have achieved their goal. Students who have had prior exposure to an introductory course in quantum chemistry should gain ability to handle abstract quantum mechanical ideas, to approach experiment critically and with insight, and to feel "at home" in the current journal literature from the present book. YuhKang Pan Boston College Chestnut Hill. Mass. 02767

Advanced Inorganic Chemistry: A Comprehensive Ted

F. Albert Cotton, Texas A and M University, and Geoffrey Wilkinson, Imperial College of Science and Technology, University of London. 3rd Ed. Interscience Publishers. New York. xxi 1145 pp. Figs. and tables. cm. $15.95.

+

Introduction to Applied Quantum Chemistry

S. P McGlynn, Louisiana State University; L. G. Vanquickenborne, University of Louvain; M. Kinoshita, University of Tokyo; and D. G. Carroll, University College, Dublin. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., New York, 1972. viii 472 pp. Figs. and tables. 15 x 23.5 cm. $14.

+

Many excellent hooks on the general framework of quantum theory have been published in the last decade. It seems, however, that the more practical side has been somewhat neglected, except, of course, for the flood of special monographs going into broad detail on rather restricted topics. The present book fills this gap very well because it gives an all-round introduction to the practical use of quantum chemistry. As the authors of the present book state in the preface, " . . . It does not pretend to

Inasmuch as my reviews of the first two editions of this excellent textbook have appeared in THIS JOURNAL (40, 230 [1963]; 44, A240 [1967]), I shall concern myself here primarily with differences between the 2nd edition and the 3rd edition, which is accurately described as "completely revised from the original literature." Although a few of the chapters remain relatively unchanged, in general the text shows evidence of judicious rearrangement and careful rewriting of chapters and of material within sections. The deletion of older material and insertion of new up-todate material has been accomplished with such skill and balance that the 3rd edition, which more than adequately covers the literature through mid-1971, represents an increase of only 9 pages over the 2nd edition (1145 pp. versus 1136pp.)! (Continued on page ,4348) Volume 50, Number 6, June 7973

/

A347